


Not So Subtle

by Gunsuya_Suou



Category: Persona 2, Persona Series
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Canon Bisexual Character, Canon Gay Character, Canon Queer Relationship, Comedy, Fluff, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-08
Updated: 2015-11-08
Packaged: 2018-04-30 14:37:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5167538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gunsuya_Suou/pseuds/Gunsuya_Suou
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jun attempts to flirt with a barista called Tatsuya who can't seem to pick up on his 'subtle' advances.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not So Subtle

Jun stifled a yawn as he entered the bustling coffee shop. Another long day at Kasugayama had left him completely drained, if he wanted any chance of being able to do his homework on time he was going to have to get a coffee. It was a completely unmemorable activity to an even more forgettable day, until he began to walk to the counter and spotted the shop’s barista.

He was a tall lanky young man who had a rather stoic demeanour to him, offset by gentle amber eyes and the most easily missed of sweet smiles he gave to polite customers. Jun couldn’t help but also note his long black eye lashes and how pretty they looked.

If he didn’t know he was gay before, he did now.

Jun quickly turned to look at the window, making sure his hair was immaculate, and that his pale lipstick hadn't smudged. Concluding he looked as flawless as ever, Jun cleared his throat, and walked confidently over to state both his order and his intentions.  
The young man had his back to Jun as he did a quick clean of the coffee machine. Jun took this opportunity, to place his elbow down on the counter and rest his face in his hand, readying his best enticing look.

When he’d finished his five second clean he turned to give the same well rehearsed greeting he always did but froze. He took one look at the customer before him and swallowed hard, before stiffly making his way to the counter.  
Jun smiled and took it as a good sign.

“So, what’ll it be?” the young man got out in a rush of words. Jun spied over the barista’s nametag and saw his name was Tatsuya, and made sure to commit that pretty name to memory. 

Jun decided to throw away subtlety and flirted with a sly wink,

“How much for the barista?” Tatsuya just looked at him blankly. He answered with brows furrowed in confusion,

“He’s, I’m, not for sale.” Jun giggled, but when he saw Tatsuya continue to look dazed, he released that the barista genuinely did not know why Jun was saying that stuff. Dejected but not defeated he gave his order, “Long black.”

“That’s gonna be really strong, and it’s quite big for you,” Tatsuya warned him to which Jun replied with a sly grin,

“I can handle big strong things.” Once more, Tatsuya just did not get it. As he made the coffee Jun cursed his powers of subtlety. 

***

The next day he came he made sure to properly introduce himself,

“Hey, I’m Jun. I don’t know if you remember, but you made me coffee yesterday.” He wrapped his finger in the thick locks of his hair and Tatsuya nodded stiffly,

“Oh, yeah, of course, how could I forget,” his eyes kept seeking Jun’s own but looking away, like he was trying to take in the beauty of the sun.

“I’m Tatsuya, by the way,” he tapped his fingers on the counter nervously, and Jun nodded, looking right at his name tag saying,

“I’d guessed.” Tatsuya smiled awkwardly, before saying shocking Jun,

“You want a flat white I’m guessing?” Jun’s jaw dropped, how could he have possibly known that?

“You had a strong coffee yesterday cause you looked tired, you’re looking refreshed and happier today so I thought you’d probably go something a bit milkier,” Tatsuya explained only enamoring himself further to Jun. It was strange, he’d never really met anyone could read him so well, let alone someone using that to make him coffees of all things. Now if only he could read attempts at flirting as well he could read emotions.

Jun’s visits to the coffee shop soon became a daily excursion. They even started to take over life as he started to daydream in class about Tatsuya, which is when he knew he had to up the ante. He hated having feelings he couldn’t act upon.  
“I guess the coffee’s not the only thing that’s hot in here,” Jun had commented one day with an obvious wink, thinking if that didn’t clue in Tatsuya nothing would.

“Yeah, the tea’s good as well,” Tatsuya answered handing Jun his coffee. It took all his self-control not to crush the cup in his hand out of frustration.

Jun started to consider the very harrowing possibility that Tatsuya was straight. The next day he entered the coffee shop more out of habit then anything else and hung back for a bit, wondering if it was even worth his time to go on. After a while he watched a woman go up to order and flirt just as blatantly as Jun had,

“Ooh, I could use a big, strong man like you around.”

“You really like coffee, huh?” Tatsuya responded flatly, and Jun gained a little bit of hope knowing that Tatsuya may not be straight, just hopelessly incompetent when it comes to flirting.

With some renewed confidence at his prospects Jun went to the counter.

“So, you come here often, then?” Jun winced internally realizing that he was running dangerously low on material. Tatsuya answered quite perplexed,

“I work here.” Jun clenched his teeth together before asking,

"Uh, well, how long have you been working here?”

“Couple months,” Tatsuya replied simply. Jun didn’t even need to put in an order now, Tatsuya could always tell what he wanted. As he made the coffee he asked,

“Aren’t you going to ask me to talk more? Go into more detail?” Jun frowned saying,

“No, you don’t have to talk if you don’t want to.” Tatsuya looked over at him with wide eyes and gawking mouth. He then quickly looked away again, fidgeting and pushing back his hair.

“Um,” he began uncertain handing Jun his coffee. “I’m gonna be on break for in twenty minutes, would you want to hang out? I know that’s a while away it’s okay if you don’t want to…” Tatsuya was sweating bullets; he wiped his clammy hands on his apron like a schoolboy asking out his crush.

“I’d love to,” Jun replied, and Tatsuya gave a relieved smile while Jun went to sit down.

Suddenly Jun was overcome by a wave of anxiety. He was getting what he wanted, and yet now all he could think about was the endless possibilities of being rejected, and he knew they could get very brutal if someone could read him well. As Tatsuya approached he put on a fake smile, hoping he wouldn’t see his tension, hoping if he spun a few cheesy lines Tatsuya wouldn’t notice and he wouldn’t ask any questions about Jun.

Maybe that’s what he really wanted. Harmless fun and frivolities, he couldn’t be hurt like that, he couldn’t be hurt for being himself if no one knew who he was.

“Are you alright?” Tatsuya asked immediately putting Jun even more on edge.

“I’m fine, really.” Tatsuya frowned, absent-mindedly tracing his finger along the lid of the coffee he’d gotten for himself.

“If this is a bad time I can go.” Jun took a deep breath, wondering why he was even bothering with pretense if it wasn’t going to work around him. In a moment of complete honesty born of pure impulse and reckless abandon he told the truth,  
“I want to talk to you, but I don’t want to talk about myself.” Tatsuya nodded remarking,

“That’s fair.” Jun was taken aback by his composure, and the fact that he wasn’t even questioning why.

“What do you want to know about me?” Tatsuya asked and waited patiently for a question. Jun thought quickly saying,

“What do you usually do after work?” Tatsuya shrugged remarking,

“Try to make my way home as slowly as possible. My brother makes these awful cakes and tries to make me eat them; they’re so sweet I don’t even like cake anymore.” 

“That’s terrible! Do you at least like savory cakes?” Tatsuya crinkled his nose,

“I’ve never really tried them,” when he looked at Jun though, something in his eyes lit up and he suddenly grew curious about them, “I guess I could though, I don’t think even my brother would force me to eat if I tell him I had some food with a friend.” Jun stared once more taken aback by Tatsuya, this time for his complete bluntness.

“We’re friends?” Tatsuya suddenly looked worried asking,

“I mean, do you, want, to be my friend?” he awkwardly scratched the back of his head and Jun couldn’t help but smile replying,

“I do.” Tatsuya still rather awkward went to get up asking,

“You want me to get you anything?”

“You pick, you always seem to know what I like.” Jun watched him, wrestling with his anxiety and his ever-growing infatuation, wondering what chance there was that he felt the same way.

***

There were two things that Anna Yoshizaka seemed to love. The first was raiding Tatsuya’s place for junk food, the second was eating said junk food on the floor of Tatsuya’s room while the two of them played video games and chatted.

The two of them sat on the edge of his bed playing a fighting game, but Tatsuya was barely paying attention. Anna cheered as her characters won the match and joked,

"Damn, I am wiping the floor with you more than usual." When she looked to him she saw him staring spaced out and suddenly grew worried.

“Hey, you alright?” Tatsuya shrugged and shook his head,

“I don’t know, it’s just, there’s this guy…” Anna frowned deeply and clenched her fists,

"If someone's picking on you, I'll end them."

“No!” Tatsuya yelled way too loudly, hoping his family didn’t hear him. “No,” he repeated in a whisper, “I just, can’t stop thinking about him for some reason. He’s really nice, and cute, and-”

“You have a crush,” Anna stated with a grin. Tatsuya gawked for a moment before closing his mouth shut. In hindsight, he felt like he probably should’ve realized sooner.

“Do you know if he likes you back? What’s he said to you?” Tatsuya thought back to all his encounters for a moment, and came to a simple conclusion,

“He may have flirted with me once or twice.” Anna leaned forward expectantly, 

“What’d he say?” Tatsuya recalled the multitude of times Jun ‘may’ have flirted with him and by the end, Anna was totally slack jawed.

“He was totally flirting with you! How were you not sure?!” Tatsuya shrugged explaining,

“I thought he was just a bit weird. Plus a lot of people say stuff like that to me, I just assumed all baristas get talked to like that.” Anna rubbed her temples and took a deep breath.  
“Please just ask him out already.” Tatsuya bit his lip saying,

“Oh, I don’t know…”

"Listen, you big bi bastard: you like him, he likes you. You have nothing to lose here, just go for it."

“Well,” Tatsuya couldn’t help but smile; Anna always seemed to know the right thing to say, “When you put it like that.”

***

Jun had considered not going back. He felt his feeling grow far greater than he’d ever intended, and that meant a greater possibility of having them thrown back in his face. He eventually decided to go after being torn for a good few minutes, deciding even if it felt impossible to ask him out, he could at least see him again, surely there’d be no harm in that.

Tatsuya took his order, and sensing that he seemed a bit on edge, put some cinnamon on his flat white without charging for it. Jun immediately felt appreciative for it as he tasted it, and nursed the thing, waiting for him to end his shift.  
As soon as Tatsuya came over, though, Jun was immediately overwhelmed with dread as he noted,

“So, I realize... you may have been flirting with me a bit.” Jun took a sharp breath and could only hope his rejection could be over relatively quick, since he knew it was going to be far from painless.  
“So, uh, I like you too, a lot, um, wanna go out?” he gave a nervous smile and Jun was completely silent for a bit taking the moment in.

“Yes.” The word slipped out before he could stop it. But when he saw Tatsuya start smiling tenderly, he felt no regret. “Yes, of course,” he answered more confidently, giving him a sweet genuine smile that he rarely gave anyone else.

“Where do you wanna go then?” Tatsuya eagerly listened to his ideas, completely receptive to him. With how kind he’d been, with how good he’d been at reading him, Jun was beginning to realize there was nothing to fear about entering a relationship with Tatsuya. When he admitted his anxieties, Tatsuya listened to him and assured him, and with his deep calming voice made him feel safe.

Jun could tell this was the beginning of something truly special.


End file.
